Richard Russell Surveyors Ltd. Privacy Policy
Effective date: 18 August 2026
Richard Russell Surveyors Ltd respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal information.
This Privacy Policy explains what personal information we collect, why we use it, how long we keep it, who we may share it with and the rights you have in relation to your information.
We process personal information in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018, the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 and other applicable data protection and privacy legislation.
1. Who we are
Richard Russell Surveyors Ltd is a UK-based firm of residential surveyors regulated by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).
We provide residential property surveys, valuations and related professional services.
For the purposes of UK data protection law, Richard Russell Surveyors Ltd is generally the data controller for the personal information covered by this policy. This means that we determine why and how that information is processed.
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or how we use your personal information, you can contact us:
Richard Russell Surveyors Ltd
11 Dormer Place
Leamington Spa
CV32 5AA
Email: info@richardrussellsurveyors.co.uk
2. The information we collect
The personal information we collect will depend on your relationship with us and the services you use. It may include:
Identity information – such as your name.
Contact information – such as your email address, telephone number and postal address.
Property information – including the address and details of a property that you own, occupy, are purchasing, selling or otherwise have an interest in.
Service information – details about the survey, valuation or other professional service you have requested.
Transaction and payment information – information relating to quotations, invoices and payments. Payment card details may be processed directly by our payment providers rather than stored by us.
Communications – correspondence between you and us, including emails, messages, notes of telephone conversations and other communications relating to our services.
Call information – where applicable, telephone calls may be recorded or transcribed for administration, training, quality assurance or record-keeping purposes.
Technical information – such as your IP address, browser type, device information and information about how you use our website.
Marketing preferences – including whether you have chosen to receive marketing communications from us.
Other information – any other personal information that you choose to provide to us or which is reasonably necessary for us to provide our services.
Our survey and valuation files may also contain information about other individuals connected with a property or transaction, such as owners, occupiers, vendors, purchasers or professional advisers.
We do not normally seek to collect special category personal information. If you provide such information to us and it is relevant to the service we are providing, we will only process it where we have an appropriate lawful basis and, where required, an additional condition under data protection law.
3. How we obtain your information
We may obtain personal information:
directly from you when you contact us, request a quotation, instruct us, complete a form, make a payment or communicate with us;
through our website and associated booking or enquiry systems;
from estate agents, solicitors, mortgage brokers, financial advisers or other professionals involved in a property transaction;
from property owners, vendors, occupiers or other people connected with a property;
from a person who refers or introduces you to us;
from publicly available sources, including property and planning information, Land Registry information and other public records where relevant to our work;
from professional or regulatory organisations;
automatically through our website, including through cookies and similar technologies where permitted; and
from legal, regulatory or public authorities where appropriate.
Where we receive information about you from somebody else, we will handle it in accordance with this Privacy Policy and applicable data protection law.
4. Why we use your information and our lawful bases
Data protection law requires us to have a lawful basis for processing personal information. The basis we rely upon depends on why we are using the information.
Providing our services
We use personal information to:
prepare quotations;
arrange inspections;
carry out surveys and valuations;
prepare and issue reports;
communicate with you before and after an inspection;
manage appointments;
administer payments and invoices; and
otherwise fulfil the services you have asked us to provide.
We generally process this information because it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you.
We may also process information before you formally instruct us where this is necessary to take steps at your request before entering into a contract.
Running and protecting our business
We may process information where necessary for our legitimate interests, including:
managing enquiries and customer relationships;
maintaining appropriate business and professional records;
improving our services and internal processes;
managing complaints and queries;
establishing, exercising or defending legal claims;
preventing fraud or misuse of our systems;
maintaining the security of our website, systems and information; and
monitoring and improving the quality of our services.
Where we rely on legitimate interests, we consider whether those interests are proportionate and whether your rights and interests override them.
Legal and professional obligations
We may process and retain information where necessary to comply with a legal obligation, including obligations relating to taxation, accounting, data protection, anti-money laundering requirements where applicable, and requests from courts or public authorities.
As an RICS-regulated firm, we may also process and retain information where necessary to comply with applicable professional and regulatory requirements.
Marketing
Where required, we rely on your consent to send you marketing communications.
You can withdraw your consent or unsubscribe from marketing communications at any time by using the unsubscribe option provided in the communication or by contacting us.
Withdrawing consent will not affect the lawfulness of processing that took place before you withdrew it.
5. Who we share your information with
We do not sell, rent or trade your personal information.
We may share information where reasonably necessary with organisations that help us operate our business or provide our services. These may include:
customer relationship management and booking system providers;
survey and report-production software providers;
cloud storage, email and IT service providers;
telephone and communications providers;
website hosting and website service providers;
payment processors and banking providers;
accountants, insurers and other professional advisers;
contractors or consultants supporting our business;
solicitors, estate agents or other property professionals where you have asked us to communicate with them or where this is otherwise necessary and lawful;
RICS and other professional or regulatory bodies;
courts, law enforcement agencies, government bodies or other authorities where we are legally required or permitted to do so; and
our professional indemnity insurers, insurance brokers, solicitors and advisers where necessary in connection with a complaint, potential claim or legal proceedings.
Where another organisation processes personal information on our behalf, we require appropriate arrangements to protect that information.
We only share the personal information reasonably necessary for the relevant purpose.
6. International transfers
Some of the technology and service providers we use may process or store personal information outside the United Kingdom.
Where personal information is transferred internationally, we take appropriate steps to ensure that it remains protected in accordance with UK data protection law.
Depending on the circumstances, this may include transferring information to a country covered by UK adequacy regulations or using recognised contractual safeguards and other measures required by UK data protection law.
You can contact us if you would like further information about the safeguards applicable to international transfers of your personal information.
7. How we protect your information
We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal information against accidental or unlawful loss, misuse, alteration, disclosure or unauthorised access.
These measures include, where appropriate:
access controls and user permissions;
secure cloud-based storage;
password and account security measures;
encryption and other security measures provided by our technology suppliers;
restricting access to information to people who reasonably require it;
maintaining appropriate backups and business continuity arrangements; and
reviewing the security of the systems and providers we use.
No electronic system can be guaranteed to be completely secure. If a personal data breach occurs, we will assess it promptly and notify affected individuals and the Information Commissioner's Office where required by law.
8. How long we keep your information
We keep personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, including to satisfy legal, regulatory, professional, insurance, accounting and reporting requirements.
Survey and valuation files
We generally retain survey, valuation and associated professional files for up to 15 years following completion of the instruction.
This reflects the nature of professional surveying work and the potential need to retain records in connection with professional obligations, insurance requirements and the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.
Financial and accounting records
Financial and accounting records are retained for the periods required by applicable tax and accounting legislation.
Enquiries that do not proceed
Information relating to enquiries that do not result in an instruction will generally be retained only for a reasonable period for administration, record-keeping and legitimate business purposes.
Marketing information
Marketing information is retained while you remain subscribed or until it is no longer reasonably required. If you unsubscribe, we may retain limited information on a suppression list so that we can record your preference and avoid sending you further marketing.
Website and analytics information
Website and analytics information is retained in accordance with the settings and retention periods applying to the relevant service.
At the end of the applicable retention period, information will be securely deleted, anonymised or otherwise disposed of where appropriate.
9. Cookies and website analytics
Our website uses cookies and similar technologies.
Some cookies are strictly necessary for the website to operate and do not require consent.
Other cookies, such as analytics or marketing cookies, will only be used where permitted by applicable law and, where required, after you have provided your consent.
We may use analytics services to understand how visitors use our website. This helps us understand which pages are useful, identify technical problems and improve the website.
Where we use a cookie consent tool, you can use it to accept, reject or manage non-essential cookies. You can also control cookies through your browser settings.
Further information about the cookies used on our website may be provided through our cookie banner or cookie settings.
10. Marketing communications
We may occasionally send information about our services, news or other relevant updates where we have an appropriate lawful basis to do so.
Where consent is required, we will only send marketing communications if you have chosen to receive them.
You can unsubscribe from marketing communications at any time.
We will not sell your personal information to third parties for marketing purposes.
11. Automated decision-making
We do not currently use solely automated decision-making, including profiling, to make decisions about individuals that produce legal or similarly significant effects.
We may use software and automated systems to assist with administrative tasks and business processes, but professional surveying and valuation judgements are made by appropriately qualified or experienced people.
12. Your data protection rights
Depending on the circumstances and the lawful basis on which we process your information, you may have the right to:
Access – request a copy of personal information we hold about you.
Rectification – ask us to correct personal information that is inaccurate or incomplete.
Erasure – ask us to delete your personal information in certain circumstances.
Restriction – ask us to restrict how we use your personal information in certain circumstances.
Data portability – receive certain personal information in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and, where applicable, ask us to transfer it to another organisation.
Withdraw consent – withdraw your consent at any time where we rely on consent to process your information.
Your right to object
You also have the right to object to certain processing of your personal information, particularly where we rely on legitimate interests.
You have an absolute right to object to the use of your personal information for direct marketing.
Not every right applies in every circumstance. For example, we may need to retain information despite a request for deletion where we have a legal, regulatory or legitimate reason to retain it.
If you wish to exercise any of your rights, please contact:
Email: info@richardrussellsurveyors.co.uk
We will respond without undue delay and normally within one month, in accordance with applicable data protection law.
We may need to ask you for information to confirm your identity before responding to a request.
You will not normally have to pay a fee to exercise your data protection rights.
13. Data protection complaints
If you have concerns about how we have collected or used your personal information, please contact us in the first instance so that we have an opportunity to investigate and respond.
You can make a data protection complaint by contacting:
Email: info@richardrussellsurveyors.co.uk
Post:
Richard Russell Surveyors Ltd
11 Dormer Place
Leamington Spa
CV32 5AA
We will acknowledge a data protection complaint within 30 days of receiving it.
We will take appropriate steps to investigate the complaint, keep you informed where appropriate and communicate the outcome to you without undue delay.
You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK's data protection regulator.
Further information is available at www.ico.org.uk.
14. Information about other people
If you provide us with personal information about another person, you should ensure that you have an appropriate reason for doing so and, where appropriate, that they understand how their information may be used.
For example, this may apply if you provide contact details for another purchaser, property owner, family member, solicitor, estate agent or other person involved in an instruction.
15. Links to other websites
Our website may contain links to websites operated by other organisations.
We are not responsible for the privacy practices of third-party websites. We recommend reviewing the relevant privacy information when visiting another website.
16. Changes to this Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes to our business, the systems we use or applicable legal and regulatory requirements.
The latest version will be published on our website and the effective date shown at the top of this policy will be updated.
Where a change materially affects how we use personal information already collected, we will take appropriate steps to bring the change to the attention of affected individuals where required.
17. Contact us
If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, wish to exercise your data protection rights or want to make a data protection complaint, please contact:
Richard Russell Surveyors Ltd
11 Dormer Place
Leamington Spa
CV32 5AA